Harry Potter and The Fellow Champion
by EmeraldGuardian7
Summary: [ABANDONED] This story starts out at the beginning if Goblet of Fire and will follow canon slowly making more and more changes along the way. By the end of GOF it will become completely AU. This story about Harry and Fleur falling in love throughout the tournament and her eventually helping him face Voldemort.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _This story will take place during Goblet of Fire and will mostly follow canon with small changes, which will increases as the story goes on. It will be Harry/Fleur. I've probably borrowed a bunch of ideas from different stories I've read so if certain aspects look familiar… sorry. I am combining all the things I've liked from other stories and getting rid of the things I don't. A large section of the first chapter is taken right from the book just because it is a lot of dialogue from Dumbledore explaining the tournament and that doesn't need to change. Past that I should have to rely less and less on the book. Also, as is obvious, I do NOT own anything to do with Harry Potter and am not making any profit from this story. It is purely for my own and anyone else's enjoyment._ _ **Bolded**_ _text is taken from the book and is not my own work._

As the sounds of the crackling fire slowly died away leaving only the faint howling of the wind in the distance, Harry Potter shivered. Though not from the cold, the remaining glowing coals still gave off ample warmth, but from the memories that were fighting their way to the forefront of his mind from earlier that day. It was like a nightmare from which he couldn't awaken. He wasn't safe anymore; he had no one to guide him, nothing to stand between him and his destiny. He shivered again at this thought. Suddenly he felt the person beside him shift slightly, snuggling deeper against his chest. Harry let out a shaky breath as he felt himself calm down. He couldn't help thinking that if someone had told him he would be here today at the beginning of the year he would have laughed at them. Sighing, he couldn't help thinking back to the first time he had laid eyes on the person in his arms and everything that led up to this moment changing his life forever…

**.**

As Harry entered the Great Hall for the beginning of term feast, he couldn't help but smile. He was home at last! Finally away from the Dursly's for the next 10 months! Glancing up at the charmed ceiling he noticed that clouds were beginning to gather in the sky partially obscuring the stars. He quickly found a seat near Ron and Hermione to eagerly await the appearance of food. Harry could hear lots of chatter at the table about the recent Quidditch World Cup and Viktor Krum's performance. Not wanting to dwell on the other horrifying events that took place that night, he tried to focus on what Hermione was saying about House Elf rights as a distraction while he ate.

 **When the puddings, too, had been demolished, and the last crumbs had faded off the plates, leaving them sparkling clean, Albus Dumbledore got to his feet again. The buzz of chatter filling the Hall ceased almost at once, so that only the howling wind and pounding rain could be heard.**

" **So!" said Dumbledore, smiling around at them all. "Now that we are all fed and watered. I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it."**

 **The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched.**

 **He continued, "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."**

" **What?" Harry gasped. He looked around at Fred and George, his fellow members of the Quidditch team. They were mouthing soundlessly at Dumbledore, apparently too appalled to speak.**

 **Dumbledore continued, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy – but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts, we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago, as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry – Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the Tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities – until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the Tournament was discontinued. The Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Hallowe'en. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money.**

" **Eager though I know all of you will be wanting to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said, "the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age – that is to say, seventeen years or older – will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration."**

Dumbledore continued on for several minutes going over several more details about what was going to be happening this year, especially the new safety considerations from the ministry, and then dismissed us for the night. One thing was for sure, Harry couldn't wait for Halloween to see who would be chosen, and, for once sit back and watch everyone else in the spotlight for once.

**.**

The first two months passed in a blur of classes and lots homework, especially without the distraction of Quidditch to keep Harry busy. Apart from that he found it quite normal for once. Along with most other students, he was getting excited for the Halloween Feast when the students from the other schools were supposed to arrive.

The night of the feast they found themselves all gathered upon the lawns of the school eagerly wondering how the students would be travelling to Hogwarts. **They scanned the darkening grounds excitedly, but nothing was moving; everything was still, silent and quite as usual. Harry was starting to feel cold. He wished they'd hurry up ... maybe the foreign students were preparing a dramatic entrance ... he remembered what Mr Weasley had said back on the campsite before the Quidditch World Cup – "Always the same, we can't resist showing off when we get together ..."**

 **And then Dumbledore called out from the back row, where he stood with the other teachers – "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"**

 **A gigantic black shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring towards them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.**

The students from Beauxbatons exited their carriage quickly followed what was the largest woman Harry had ever seen, largest person too, second only to Hagrid. Harry noticed his peers must have reached the same conclusion as well when he saw many of them gaping, looking between her and Hagrid who was already rushing forward to care for the flying horses attached to the carriage.

The students hurried to the side standing in line, all garbed in the same light blue colour, while the large woman went to speak to Dumbledore. They spoke together in quiet voices causing the Hogwarts students to soon lose interest as they began to peer closely at their Beauxbatons counterparts. Harry noted that they seemed to be shivering slightly which he found easy to believe once he remarked that their clothing seemed to be mostly made of fine silk. One of these students seemed to stand out from the rest, almost exuding some kind of aura causing people's eyes to be drawn towards her. It was obvious to Harry that she was quite beautiful, with silvery blond hair tied back behind her head. Many of the boys around him were staring. He noticed her glancing around surveilling them all when she met his eyes. He noticed her piercing blue eyes which seemed hard when paired with the completely blank expression she wore. She continued scanning the crowd around Harry, finally reaching the edge where she turned her nose up and her mask finally broke showing a slight look of disgust. Before Harry could ponder this further his attention was again brought elsewhere when he heard the gasps of his schoolmates. He turned towards the lake only to notice a magnificent ship slowly raising out of the water, glistening in the moonlight. **It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it was a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide towards the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.**

The students that lumbered off the ship seemed the exact opposite of those from Beauxbatons. While they had been graceful and light, wearing their silk robes, the students from Durmstrang seemed to radiate power and strength. They were dressed in heavy furs which he noticed several students shrugging off as if hot. An older man, who Harry assumed was their headmaster, was leading their procession as they exited the ship. He left his students after a moment joining Dumbledore and the other woman, who Harry had overheard someone call Madame Maxime, further confirming his suspicions. They continued their silent conversation with the new man for a few moments before leading the students from all three schools back up towards the castle.

As they entered the great hall, Harry continued to watch the other students, some of whom were staring around in wonder, other in distaste, at the decorations and the enchanted ceiling. He had just begun questioning where they were to sit as he noticed the Beauxbatons students being ushered to the Ravenclaw table, while Durmstrang joined the Slytherins. Ron had been harping incessantly in his ear about something for several moments. Forcing himself to pay attention to what he was saying he found not only Ron, but many people nearby, all muttering something about Viktor Krum, the famous seeker he had seen at the Quidditch World Cup. Glancing around the hall again, he saw the person in question in Durmstrang robes sitting next to none other than Draco Malfoy. Malfoy had a huge smirk on his face and seemed to be talking loudly to all those around him, especially focused on Krum. Harry could almost hear his voice in his head going on and on about his father and family stature. He couldn't help but chuckle when he noticed the look of utter distaste for his current dinner companions on Krum's face.

"Can't believe he has to sit with the Slytherins!" Ron finally announced with a scowl. Harry merely shrugged in response as they seated themselves near the middle of the Gryffindor bench.

Dumbledore, as per usual, got up and said a few words when everyone settled in, spending a few extra minutes introducing and welcoming the new additions to the Great Hall. Food arrived on the tables shortly after allowing everyone to dig in.

" **What's that?" said Ron, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew** just as Harry was also noticing some of the unfamiliar foods being served.

" **Bouillabaisse," said Hermione.**

" **Bless you," said Ron.**

" **It's French," said Hermione. "I had it on holiday, summer before last, it's very nice."**

" **I'll take your word for it," said Ron, helping himself to black pudding.**

After several moments eating, Harry noticed many of his house mates falling silent around him. He suddenly felt a familiar pull urging him to turn around. Harry began to turn, his thoughts going slightly foggy. He quickly shook it off to look at the person standing behind him. It was the girl he had noticed by the Beauxbatons Carriage earlier. To his surprise her earlier blank expression was gone, replaced by one of slight shock. He also couldn't help but notice how her pale blonde hair was now loose falling into sheet, almost reaching her waist. Calling on his Gryffindor courage, he looked up into her eyes, which were a deeper blue than he had originally noticed, and attempted to give a small smile, wondering what she needed.

**.**

So far Fleur's time at Hogwarts had been less than ideal. Growing up as a Veela had always been a challenge, especially when she had hit puberty. She was always the recipient of unwanted stares and she had to learn quickly how to control her Allure as to not render every male within a 10 foot radius to a blubbering mess. Veelas, though not prominent, were not uncommon to be in attendance at Beauxbatons Academy therefore most students could function, for the most part, normally as long she kept a tight leash on her Allure. Though, from what she had heard from her father before leaving France, Veelas were very uncommon at Hogwarts leaving most of the students inexperienced. He had explained this was mostly due to the different laws in England based on their views on what they considered dark creatures and half-breeds.

She had noticed that the Hogwarts students were gaping at her as if she were on display at a muggle zoo, even with her iron clad control over her Allure. Fleur was also not a fan of the damp English climate that the stone walls of Hogwarts seemed to do so little to keep out, causing her to already begin to miss home back in France. Choosing to settle for some comfort food, she began searching the table for something familiar. Failing at the task initially but not giving up she began searching the other tables with her eyes before she finally came upon what she was looking for on the table against the far wall.

She quickly got up and began to traverse the length of the hall towards her destination. As she walked by she noticed the students become quiet and watch her but as per usual she kept her face set in a mask of indifference. As she approached the far table, she noticed a red haired boy on the other side of the table, who seemed more effected then the others. When he noticed her he went completely wide eyed, staring at her as if in a daze, his mouth falling open in the process. Trying to ignore him as much as possible she looked to the person closest to what she wanted. The boy in question was facing away from her and she came to stop behind him, she saw him stiffen slightly. Beginning to turn around before she said anything, she saw him shaking his head slightly as if trying to clear it. As he looked up towards her, she was expecting the normal dazed expression but was shocked when she looked into the startlingly green and clear eyes of the boy she had noticed outside earlier because he had seemed more coherent then his peers. He gave a small friendly smile.

" **Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"** Fleur asked.

" **Yeah, have it," said** the boy **, pushing the dish towards** her.

" **You 'ave finished wiz it?"**

"Yeah," he said while nodding the affirmative.

"Yeah," the red haired boy said breathlessly echoing his friend. He still looked very dazed. "Yeah, it was excellent."

She grabbed the bowl and began heading back to her table when she realized that she had let her mask drop in her surprise. Reaching her table she began serving herself when she was assaulted by several of her classmates with questions in her native tongue.

"I can't believe that you actually went over and talked to him?" One asked.

"What was he like?" Another one quickly interjected.

"Who?" She asked.

"Harry Potter!" They replied in unison.

Fleur turned and glanced over her shoulder at the table she had just left and the raven haired boy sitting there. At that moment he also turned and glanced at her. Meeting her eyes he instantly blushed and ran his hand through his hair nervously, uncovering the lightning shaped scar that Fleur had previously not noticed, before he turned back towards his own table. She had of course heard the tales of the Boy Who lived, even in France, and several other rumors over the past few years about his adventures here at Hogwarts though for some reason she had never expected to meet him. His apparent resistance, if not immunity, to her Allure also gave her pause as that was a very rare trait. Fleur decided she would have to keep her eye on the interesting young man sitting across the hall.

 **A/N:** _I've only started ready Fan Fiction in the last couple months and eventually found my way into the Harry Potter section of the site. I've always been such a huge Harry Potter fan but now am able to read so many different versions of the story! Its been great! I have been and always will be a huge Harry/Ginny shipper but after reading a whole bunch of stories I have started reading several other pairings as well until I came across Harry/Fleur. It is probably my second favorite pairing but I was dismayed to find there are not very many good stories out there so I decided to create my own. Please review and let me know how I've done and leave any constructive criticism._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _This chapter was originally going to cover the events from the champion selection through till the end of the first task but ended up being longer than I thought. Therefore, the first task is going to come next chapter. Throughout this story I am going to be skipping over a lot of time. I am not intending to rewrite the whole book, just the major events and changes that are related to the growing Harry/Fleur relationship. That being said, the events that I skip over… just assume they happen like canon unless I say otherwise. I hope you enjoy and please leave me a review if you have a chance to let me know how I am doing._

If at all possible, the next day seemed to drag on even longer than the day before. Now that they had all seen the other students, they, including Harry, couldn't wait to see who would be chosen as Champions that night. There was an almost palpable electric atmosphere in the halls with everyone hurrying around in groups, whispering and pointing out to their friends who they had seen enter their names. Some people even went so far as to sit in the Great Hall all day watching those who were brave enough to accept the challenge. It was there, that Ron and Harry found themselves lucky enough to witness something that they would hold over Fred and Georges head for many years to come. Professor Dumbledore, true to his word, had placed an age line around the Goblet of Fire, barring entrance to those under the age of 17. Thinking themselves cleverer than the most powerful wizard of this age, they had managed to acquire some aging potion. The cheers that rose in the hall after their initial success were deafening, that was until they were both forcibly thrown back from the Goblet and instantly sprouted long, white, fluffy beards that would have given even Dumbledore a run for his money. They were quickly taken to the hospital wing while the very man in question arrived warning others to not try the same thing lest they wish to meet the same fate.

All of the students from both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons entered their names including Viktor Krum, who Ron had still been unable to work up the courage to ask for an autograph from, and the girl he had seen yesterday with the long silver blond hair.

"I swear she must be part Veela," said Ron when the girl exited the hall after depositing her name. So far Ron seemed to be doing much better, he had not started drooling this time when she had passed, though he did have a slightly dazed expression on his face for several moments. Harry had to agree with Ron's assessment after considering for a moment how he had felt the night before when she was close compared to the Quidditch World Cup.

Harry also recognized two other girls from Beauxbatons who entered their names from the night before. They had been sitting next to the blond girl and had seemed to be questioning her in between fits of giggles when she returned to her own table. They had actual both been glancing over at him as they too exited the hall with appraising looks as if he were a piece of meat. Squirming around, feeling uncomfortable under their scrutiny, Harry tried to distract himself by talking to Ron about hypothetical ways to get past the age line, not that he actually wanted to. Eventually, after much discussion and Hermione's insistence to the fact, they agreed it was impossible and continued watching their peers, awaiting the night's festivities.

**.**

By the time darkness had fallen around the castle, everyone was already congregated in the Great Hall. For the first time ever, most the candles were extinguished with the room being illuminated only by the unearthly blue glow coming from the flickering flames of the Goblet of Fire, stationed in the center of the room.

" **Well, the Goblet is almost ready to make its decision," said Dumbledore when he and the other teachers arrived. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" – he indicated the door behind the staff table – "where they will be receiving their first instructions."**

A minute later **the flames inside the Goblet turned suddenly red. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it – the whole room gasped. Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read it by the light of the flames, which had turned back to blue white.**

" **The champion for Durmstrang," he read, in a strong, clear voice, "will be Viktor Krum."**

 **Harry saw Viktor Krum rise from the Slytherin table, and slouch up towards Dumbledore; he turned right, walked along the staff table, and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.**

 **The clapping and chatting died down. Now everyone's attention was focused again on the Goblet, which, seconds later, turned red once more. A second piece of parchment shot out of it, propelled by the flames.**

" **The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "Fleur Delacour!"**

" **It's her, Ron!" Harry shouted, as the girl who so resembled a Veela got gracefully to her feet, shook back her sheet of silvery blonde hair and swept up between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.** Harry wasn't sure what was so interesting to him about the Beauxbatons girl but there seemed to be more to her than he initially noticed.

" **Oh, look, they're all disappointed," Hermione said over the noise, nodding towards the remainder of the Beauxbatons party. 'Disappointed' was a bit of an understatement, Harry thought. Two of the girls who had not been selected had dissolved into tears, and were sobbing with their heads on their arms.** He recognized them from earlier as the ones who had been eyeing him up.

 **When Fleur Delacour, too, had vanished into the side chamber, silence fell again, but this time it was a silence so stiff with excitement you could almost taste it. The Hogwarts champion next...**

 **And the Goblet of Fire turned red once more; sparks showered out of it; the tongue of flame shot high into the air, and from its tip Dumbledore pulled the third piece of parchment.**

" **The Hogwarts champion," he called, "is Cedric Diggory!"**

" **Excellent!" Dumbledore called happily, as at last the tumult died down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real –"**

 **But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everybody what had distracted him.**

 **The fire in the Goblet had just turned red again. Sparks were flying out of it. A long flame shot suddenly into the air, and borne upon it was another piece of parchment.**

 **Automatically, it seemed, Dumbledore reached out a long hand and seized the parchment. He held it out and stared at the name written upon it. There was a long pause, during which Dumbledore stared at the slip in his hands, and everyone in the room stared at Dumbledore. And then Dumbledore cleared his throat, and read out –**

" **Harry Potter."**

Harry felt as if a lead weight had been dropped in the pit of his stomach. He sat there a moment more before Dumbledore repeated his name out loud and he felt Hermione give him a slight shove from behind. He stumbled into the isle before straightening himself and walking slowly towards the door that lead out of the rear of the hall as he had seen Viktor, Fleur and Cedric do already. Even though the situation was very serious, Harry had to stifle a chuckle when all he could think was, 'There goes my normal year.'

When he rounded the corner in the hall and entered the trophy room he immediately saw the other champions standing around a fire. They all looked up when he entered and Fleur threw back her sheet of long, silvery hair looking slightly perplexed.

"What is it?" She said. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

Harry was at a loss for words about what had just happened and was slightly distracted by the sight of her playing with her hair but he was rescued from answering by the sound of quickly approaching footsteps.

Ludo Bagman entered the room. He took Harry by the arm, and led him forwards.

"Extraordinary!" He muttered, squeezing Harry's arm. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen ... lady," he added, approaching the fireside and addressing the other three. "May I introduce – incredible though it may seem – the fourth Triwizard champion?"

The other champions looked completely bewildered, all staring at Harry intently now. Harry thought he saw a quick look of concern flash on Fleur's face which for some reason made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. The moment didn't last long though because Fleur again tossed her hair smiling at Bagman and said, **"Oh, very funny joke, Meester Bagman."**

" **Joke?" Bagman repeated, bewildered. "No, no, not at all! Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"**

 **Fleur frowned. "But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," she said contemptuously to Bagman. "'E cannot compete. 'E is too young."**

 **The door behind them opened again, and a large group of people came in: Professor Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr Crouch, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. Harry heard the buzzing of the hundreds of students on the other side of the wall, before Professor McGonagall closed the door.**

" **Madame Maxime!" said Fleur at once, striding over to her Headmistress. "Zey are saying zat zis little boy is to compete also!"**

Harry had tended to agree with Fleur's assessment of the situation so far. It did feel like some kind of big sick joke but **somewhere under Harry's numb disbelief, he felt a ripple of anger.** _ **Little boy?**_ He had done things that they couldn't even comprehend. Harry thought he had been wrong about her. She wasn't concerned about him. She only cared that he had broken the rules and now Hogwarts had two champions!

The rest of the conversation passed in a blur of arguments and obvious disapproval from the adults for Harry. Later he would only vaguely remember the declaration that he was magically bound to compete after Dumbledore's questioning. He perked up again when he heard Fleur once again enter the conversation but it only served to make him feel worse. **"Why should 'e complain? 'E 'as ze chance to compete, 'asn't 'e? We 'ave all been 'oping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! Ze honour for our schools! A thousand Galleons in prize money – zis is a chance many would die for!"**

Harry stopped listening again after that but luckily the conversation died out soon enough on its own. Before being dismissed, the date for the first task was given to the champions as well as a short description that left Harry feeling no more prepared then had been before.

He hurried out of there as soon as he could thoughts of crashing on his four poster bed filling his head. He was not looking forward to the scolding, nagging and overall worry he would get from Hermione so entering the common room he hoped to sneak off unnoticed and talk to Ron. Unfortunately, it seemed fate had different plans, exact opposite plans really, as when he crossed through the Portrait Hole he was instantly swarmed by his house mates who seemed to be in the middle of throwing a party. When he finally got tired of dodging food and drinks being forced on him and telling everyone that he really didn't enter his name, Harry was able to escape to the staircase leading up the dorm. When he entered the room and saw Ron laying on the bed, he couldn't help but be relieved that he finally had a chance to talk this all through with his best friend. Harry realized that this too was not to be the case when he noticed Ron's expression.

After bickering for a few moments over the nights events, Harry started to get angry and finally exclaimed for the last time, **"I didn't put my name in that Goblet!"**

" **Yeah, OK," said Ron, in exactly the same skeptical tone that** everyone else in the common room had used. **"Only you said this morning you'd have done it last night, and no one would've seen you ... I'm not stupid, you know."**

The conversation ended quickly after that with both Harry and Ron retreating onto their beds and forcibly shutting the hangings. He had a feeling that most the school wouldn't believe him but realized the Ron's actions had confirmed it. Harry couldn't help but think, _'I've been thrust into a life threatening tournament, lost the support of most of my school who think I am trying to upstage Cedric let alone the other schools who think this is a crazy plot to give Hogwarts a better chance and lost my best friend all in one night. What else can go wrong?'_

**.**

Fleur had regretted the things she had said in the chamber the moment she left. She had been shocked by Bagman's announcement and felt great concern that the boy, Harry, would have to compete. She wasn't sure why she felt protective over him in this instant, she didn't even know him, but the thought of him in danger made her feel nervous. She'd seen the way his face had changed when she had called him a little boy. She knew he had gone through lots of ordeals in his life but again that strange protective feeling that she couldn't place had come into play again. His expression at her words were oddly reminiscent of her own feelings when she had was dismissed by others for being a Veela, or just a pretty face and that was another one of the reasons she regretted her choice of words.

When her headmistress had arrived she had been so caught up in the anger Madame Maxine was directing at Dumbledore and the whole situation, that when she had caught the morose look on Harry's face, she couldn't help her outburst of rage about how lucky was to be in this tournament. The next comment by the professor with all the scars about someone setting him up, hoping for him to die, had vanished those feelings as quickly as they had appeared.

Now that she was heading down the lawn towards the Beauxbatons Carriage Fleur didn't know what to think. On one hand she thought that all the confusion and fear that Harry was obviously feeling served him right after breaking the rules and entering the tournament but she couldn't shake the Hogwarts professor's words.

'What if someone is really trying to kill him?' She thought fearfully before quickly dismissing the idea as crazy. Who would go through all that work to create such a convoluted way of killing him? Even though she was certain he must have found a way to enter himself into the goblet, she couldn't stay angry at him like she should. What did all this mean?

 **A/N:** _The next chapter is going to be another big time skip up to the first task. We all know what happens to harry during this period and not much changes. I am planning on making the next chapter to be mostly from Fleur's point of view or at least initially and should contain even less passages directly from the book. I really hope you guys are enjoying this story! I have no idea what my posting schedule will be like. I have had this idea for a while and spent some time planning out certain aspects. I have been really inspired the last two days so that will explain the speed of this update but I doubt I'll be able to keep it up for long but who knows. Please leave me a review if you have got a chance and let me know how I am doing. Thanks for reading! Still can't believe how many follows I've gotten in less than 24 hours!_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** _This chapter should cover the entirety of the first task. Again it follows pretty close to canon except for my interpretation on Fleur's preparation (because we don't ever actually know what she did). In the next chapter we will start to diverge a bit more when I add a scene that was never in canon (and unlike in this chapter with Fleur's training) will start changing canon. Also for any that are worried I will be doing any Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, etc… bashing. I will follow Harry's struggles with Ron like in the GoF canon. As always I don't own Harry Potter (though I wish I did)._ _ **Bolded text**_ _is a direct excerpt from the book. Please enjoy!_

The next month passed very slowly for Fleur. She couldn't wait for first task, even if only to get it out of the way. Anxiety really began to set in after the first week, once she realized how hard it was to prepare for a task when you didn't know what it was. That initial anxiety was short lived though, because Madame Maxine promptly told her of how the first task involved dragons and what she needed to do. This spawned her new, deeper, sense of anxiety based off the fact that she now knew she had to face a dragon! Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

She wasn't sure how she felt about the fact that her Headmistress had told her of what the task entailed. Madame Maxine had explained it away, as only be fair after the 'blatant cheating and disregard for the rules by Dumbledore and the British Minister of Magic by allowing Harry to compete.' And that brings us to the second thing Fleur wasn't sure how she felt about: Harry Potter. She had found herself if not outright watching him, at least seeming to notice him when they entered a common area. Fleur had noticed that harry seemed even more upset as time went on towards the first task causing her to again question whether she thought that he had submitted his own name. Like last time, she could not come up with a plausible scenario where someone would use such a convoluted murder plot.

Though this seemed to stretch the boundaries of fairness pretty far, Madame Maxine had been working with Fleur to prepare for the first task as well, and she was happy for it. They had originally started working on the Conjunctivitis Curse to shoot at the dragons eyes but before long, it was apparent that she was a long way from mastering the spell. After a couple days off training, and several apprehension filled, sleepless nights by Fleur, Madam Maxine finally came up with a solution while consulting Fleur's Grandmother! Madame Maxine explained that they had found it in an ancient Veela text. Calling upon her own Allure, there was a nonverbal spell that she could cast with her wand that would direct it at a certain target, causing them to fall asleep. This had turned out to be much more effective than she hoped and after several practice sessions she found herself in a clearing surrounded by the peaceful sleeping forms of various small animals. This sent her into a fit of giggles as she thought about what would have happened if she had known about this application of her Allure years ago. Instead of the lustful stares she'd received; all her classmates asleep on all their desks. Feeling suddenly much better about the task ahead she allowed herself to enjoy the last week leading up to the big event.

**.**

The morning of the first task dawned cold and grey, typical for a November day. The calm and collected persona that Fleur had been mastering for the past week was completely shattered. As she sat in the corner of the tent awaiting her turn she had found her hands had shaking slightly and that they felt very clammy. When she stepped through entrance to the roar of the crowd, Fleur couldn't help but feel bad for Harry back in the tent. When choosing the miniature dragons from the bag, Harry had gone last and she had noticed right away the wide eyed look of fear on his face when he realized the dragon he had chosen was almost double the size of the others. Even Fleur had to admit to herself that the Hungarian Horntail, as Bagman had identified it, looked quite fearsome with its many layers of spikes that continued down its tail.

Shaking her head, Fleur tried to clear her mind, silently scolding herself for getting distracted thinking about Harry which seemed to be happening more and more lately. Her own dragon, a Welsh Green sat partway across the field, between her and the eggs of course, and seemed to be watching the surroundings waiting for something to come. Like its name it was covered by pale green scales but was surprisingly shorter than Fleur thought. It looked almost like an overly large salamander with wings. As she took her first step forward, the crowd's cheers got louder anticipating the coming confrontation. Again to Fleur's surprise the Welsh Green looked apprehensively out at the crowd, seemingly not liking its current situation.

She began to feel that this may be easier than she thought. She took another step and started releasing her allure while beginning the complicated wand movement towards the dragon that she would need to keep going until capturing the egg. The beast immediately started to fall asleep curling in the same spot it had been standing only moment ago. Striding ahead confidently Fleur continued the wand movement and incantation in her head. When she was just passing the dragons sleeping form she couldn't help but think excitedly about how easy this task was but in her excitement she momentarily lost control of her allure that surged forward unrestrained producing a surge of magic out of her wand. She froze. The dragon shifted but remained asleep. She tried to steady her breathing and calm her racing heart when she heard a rumbling from the dragon. She quickly realized, to much internal hilarity, that it was a snore but did not anticipate the burst of flame that would accompany it.

Fleur jumped forward at the last section, narrowly avoiding being cooked alive. She sprinted towards the Golden Egg, all pretense of caution gone now. She saw the dragon stirring but much to her relief reached the nest and scooped the surprisingly light egg into her arms only to realize that her robes were on fire. After a hastily cast aguamenti charm, and when her robes were flame free, she glanced back up, only to be looking into the ferocious and suddenly not so harmless eyes of the Welsh Green. A dozen HitWizards were there in seconds though, subduing the dragon and helping her from the pit over to the medical tent.

As she entered the medical tent she was directed over to a bed to sit on. She saw a healer with Cedric, who looked to be in rough shape, lying unconscious on a bed across the tent. The healer in question, finished up a moment later and began heading towards her. She recognized her from the Hogwarts staff, a Mrs. Ponfy or something like that? Fleur knew it started with a P. After being thoroughly examined, a lot more so that she would have liked, she had some salve applied to the very minor burns in the lower legs, which were gone in 5 minutes, and she was finally let go. While leaving the tent, she passed Viktor who looked unhurt yet had what looked like a now permanent deep scowl on his face. Realizing that Harry was about to go on she hurried out the edge of the stands to watch.

The first thing Fleur noticed was the Hungarian Horntail and it stopped her dead in her tracks. 'It's even larger than it looked from the model,' she thought. The dragon had heavy black scales and even the end of the tail was spiked, which she hadn't noticed before. Unlike her Welsh Green, it stood at the far end of the enclosure, crouched low to the ground, right over her eggs. Holding her breath, she saw Harry exit the tent. He stood there for a moment before thrusting his wand into the air and shouting something that was lost in the wind. After keeping that pose for a good minute, Fleur began to get nervous. She couldn't help but wonder if he knew what to do? 'Of course he doesn't know how to handle a dragon! He's a fourth year! I barely made it out!' She thought.

Wondering if they would consider letting him concede without finishing the task she finally heard it. A faint whooshing sound was coming from the castle yet looking in that direction she didn't see anything. All of a sudden something broke the tree line speeding towards Harry who reached out and grabbed it jumping on. It was a broom! Fleur watched shocked as Harry rocketed upward before pausing momentarily hovering high above the stadium. In the blink of an eye he was diving straight down towards the egg. 'What was he doing? That will never work! The dragon will be able to intercept that and even if it doesn't he'll crash into the ground!' She thought panicked. This worry was again unnecessary when he pulled up incredibly before the dragon had even moved, yet if he had not, he would have been hit by jet of flame released seconds later. Fleur was in awe, she had never seen flying like this, not even at the Quidditch World Cup. He dived again momentarily, avoiding more flames but she gasped in horror as she saw the dragon's tail swinging that Harry hadn't seemed to notice yet. He swerved at the last moment, one of its spikes grazing his shoulder making Fleur let out an involuntary small squeak of terror (which she would deny ever happened after).

Harry finished quickly after that. Fleur noticed that he seemed to almost be taunting the dragon from afar before it launched into the air itself to follow him. This seemed to be the event he was waiting for as, again, he was diving straight down pulling up at the last second, something Fleur thought she would never grow accustomed to, speeding under the dragon and collecting the egg. The cheers in the stadium were deafening and she found herself joining in, much to her own surprise. She noticed Harry entering the medical tent and smirked to herself over the fussing she knew he would receive from the Hogwarts MediWitch. If she had learned one thing from today, it was that Harry Potter was no little boy.

**.**

Entering the medical tent Harry noticed Madam Pomfrey checking over a disgruntled looking Viktor Krum and farther down what looked to be Cedric laying on a hospital bed, though it was partially obscured by privacy screens. Viktor was finished a few minutes later and hurried out of the tent quickly, causing Harry to chuckle knowing how Viktor was feeling before realizing he was next. After being fussed over for several moments and having the scratch on his shoulder healed, Harry was free.

Harry went straight over to the edge of the arena with Ron who had met him at the entrance of the tent with Hermione. Ron had apologized saying he realized that he had been telling the truth the whole time. Harry was just glad to have his best mate back. They arrived just in time for his scores to be revealed.

" **It's marks out of ten from each one," Ron said, and Harry, squinting up the field, saw the first judge – Madame Maxime – raise her wand in the air. What looked like a long, silver ribbon shot out of it, which twisted itself into a large figure eight.**

" **Not bad!" Said Ron, as the crowd applauded. 'I suppose she took marks off for your shoulder ..."**

 **Mr Crouch came next. He shot a number nine into the air.**

" **Looking good!" Ron yelled, thumping Harry on the back.**

 **Next, Dumbledore. He, too, put up a nine. The crowd were cheering harder than ever.**

 **Ludo Bagman – ten.**

" **Ten?" Said Harry in disbelief. "But ... I got hurt ... what's he playing at?"**

" **Harry, don't complain!" Ron yelled excitedly.**

 **And now Karkaroff raised his wand. He paused for a moment, and then a number shot out of his wand, too – four.**

" **What?" Ron bellowed furiously. "Four? You lousy biased scumbag, you gave Krum ten!"**

Harry had been about to respond to Ron to tell him that he was happy with what he got when he heard a familiar silky voice behind him.

"'E is right you know. You did better zen all of us! Zat score vas not fair, "she said causing Harry to turn around quickly in surprise.

"Well… I don't know… I… ummm… thanks," he managed to mumble out, realizing that he was at a loss for words for the first time in front of Fleur. He had seen how she had reacted to how many of the boys, for example one Ron Weasley, when they had been fawning over her and Harry was suddenly fearful that she would think of him like that too. To his relief she didn't seem to mind.

"You shouldn't be so 'ard on yourself 'arry. Zat vas some of ze best flying I 'ave ever seen," she said placing a hand on his shoulder. As soon as she did that, all Harry could focus on was the heat that seemed to emenate from her hand and feel that she must be able to hear how fast his heart was pounding. She continued, "I also vanted to apologize for my comments earlier zis year. You are obviously not a leetle boy."

It took him a second to remember how to nod his head to indicate that he heard him. When he had done so she let a small chuckle at his obvious embarrassment before removing her hand and walking away. Harry felt dazed but for some reason knew that he hadn't been affected by her power. He looked over a Ron questioningly but he only shrugged in response. Hermione who had also been standing nearby rolled her eyes at the two of them, and then the newly reunited Golden Trio started the climb back up to the castle.

**.**

The next few weeks returned Harry to his regularly scheduled classes and, of course, mountains of homework. He still hadn't been able to figure out the clue in the egg yet much to Hermione's displeasure. He had nearly given his fellow Gryffindors a heart attack when he had opened it in the common room after the first task. The unearthly shrieks that emerged from the egg had left his ears ringing for the next hour.

Surprisingly, he seemed to see Fleur everywhere now. Randomly passing her in the hall at all times of the day as if staged and, of course, what now seemed to be her daily visits in the great hall during meal times. She would show up out of the blue seeming to always find a reason to place her hand on his shoulder or say something from behind him. This caused Harry to nearly choke on his food on several occasions. She was always teasing him about something or reminding him that she wouldn't be such an easy an opponent during the next task. Not that he minded seeing her, well really he loved seeing her, but Harry couldn't understand her sudden urge to talk him. He had voiced this question once at dinner after Fleur had just left, only to have Hermione shoot him an incredulous look and scoff something about 'boys being so thick' before getting up and leaving the table. Needless to say, Harry didn't bring it up again. Another benefit was that Ron finally seemed to be able to form coherent thoughts around Fleur but he was also at a loss about the meaning behind her sudden appearances.

After one such appearance, leaving Harry exiting the hall with a slight blush and running several minutes late, he and Ron hurried to transfiguration. When they entered the class they received a stern look from Professor McGonagall who indicated that they should sit down. When they did, she began speaking again, "Nice of you two to join us. You are here just in time for an important announcement which will be of particular interest to you Mr. Potter."

 **A/N:** _Though this chapter follows pretty close to canon it is the longest that I have written of completely new content including my take on Fleur's training and performance in the task. I'm also happy with the amount I have moved their relationship along. As you can see I am starting to diverge from canon at the end there which should be even more apparent next chapter. I know you guys probably didn't want to read what you already know happens but I feel the small changes I make here are important to make their eventual relationship more authentic and believable. As always please leave a review and let me know how I have done. I wanted to thank everyone for all the reviews, follows and favorites I have received so far. The number of follows on this story in the last 3 days almost matches that of my first story over 3 months so again THANK YOU!_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** _This chapter basically covers everything that happened at the end of the last chapter plus the pre-yule ball drama and then the ball itself. This is actually my longest chapter yet and I believe is the largest stepping stone in diverging from canon. I hope you all enjoy! As always I don't anything to do with Harry Potter though I wish I did._

News of the Yule Ball swept through the castle in a tidal wave of excited whispers and squeaks, passed on from person to person. Therefore Fleur knew all about it hours before Madame Maxine made the official announcement in the Beauxbatons carriage. She used that extra time to mentally prepare herself to weather the oncoming storm. Walking into the Great Hall, she tried extra hard to exude that aura of superiority that she had so carefully crafted over the years, hoping it would be off putting to some of those around her. As if on cue with her thoughts, the first of many suitors approached and began their pitch.

This continued on for several days and, eventually to Fleur's amusement, some would ask through many stutters, others would only gape openly by the time they approached and some others, which she found the most annoying, asked with confidence yet always seemed to be followed by an arrogant smirk. Though frustrating as it was, she always tried to let them down politely, some cases this being harder than others. One of such persons was a seventh year Ravenclaw who she spoken to at dinner a few times. He had been able to look at her and hold a conversation with her normally within the first month of school so she actually let herself consider it for a moment. That was until that telltale pompous look had shown up on his face as soon as he realized that she hadn't turned him down right away. Walking away from the Great Hall she couldn't help but think how Harry never looked at her like that.

Fleur didn't even know what she was doing with Harry anymore. The last several weeks she had found herself modifying her route through the castle just so she could pass him in the hall. She had never done anything like that before and though it scared her, she couldn't help but come over to his table at dinner and tease him. He was just so easy to tease and Fleur found she liked that fact that she could make him blush so easily. It taken several weeks for her even realize that she was flirting with him. She had never really done that before, never needing to deal with the stress that was involved by giving anyone the impression that she welcomed their advances. At least the red headed friend of Harry's hadn't asked her to the ball yet. She was sure that would be awkward.

**.**

Several days had passed and Harry still had no idea what he was going to do about the Yule Ball. When Professor McGonagall had made the announcement in the class he had originally planned on either not attending or at least going on his own. That was until of course he remembered that the Professor had said it was of particular interest to him. Dreading the answer he had asked her anyway, only to be promptly informed that his attendance was required with a date as he had to open the ball with the other champions.

Incredibly uncomfortable with the whole idea, Harry avoided most members of the opposite sex as much as possible for the next few days, hoping the whole problem would simply disappear. There was one person he had in mind but he knew there was no chance of that happening so Harry begrudgingly went and found Hermione for advice. He told her of his predicament and how he wanted to completely avoid the "Harry Potter Fan Club" that was still around since his second year.

"Well… why don't you ask someone you know who obviously doesn't just like you for being the Boy-Who-Lived," Hermione said. When Harry just gave her a blank look she raised her eyebrows and continued on, "someone who always seems to be around you." Harry's eyes widened after her last comment causing Hermione to give a little self-satisfied smirk.

"I'd love to go with you as a friend Hermione. I just hope you know I only think of you like a sister."

Her blush could have given most of the Weasley's a run for their money. "No! I… um… I don't feel like… I already have a date. That's not what I meant!" She replied stuttering.

"What?" Harry asked, really confused now.

"I meant Fleur, Harry. Fleur Delacour!" Hermione said exasperated.

Now it was Harry's turn to be flustered. "I… she… how did you… why would she say yes to me? Half the school has already asked her." He said.

"You do like her, don't you?" Asked Hermione. When he gave a slight nod she continued on, "Well, it's obvious she likes you too. She only comes over and flirts with you every night at dinner! Are you really that thick?"

**.**

That night at dinner, Harry sat pushing food around on his plate. Hermione's words had given him courage earlier but it had all vanished the moment he had seen her while entering the Great Hall. Hermione had been shooting him pointed looks all throughout the meal as if saying 'Go! Get it over with already!' Ron was surprisingly absent at the beginning of the meal and for once he didn't mind, not wanted his best mate to see him fail horribly.

Realizing he wasn't going to get anything down soon he pushed his plate away and turned to look at the object of his thoughts all afternoon. He heard Hermione sigh from behind him before she gave him a shove. Righting himself before anyone could noticed his stumble, he started making his way across the hall with a confidence he didn't feel. When he reached his destination he froze, realizing that he hadn't actually planned out what he wanted to say. Fleur looked up at him with a bemused expression and he realized that this was the first time he had sought her out in the great hall. He took a deep breath trying to order his thoughts before getting distracted by glancing over at two girls giggling at him, who he recognized as the two that broke down in tears when the Goblet had not spit out their names.

"I was wondering if you… well since we have to… do you want to go to the ball with me?" He asked nervously.

"Are you asking me or my class mates, 'arry?" She asked seriously. That snapped him to attention immediately and he found himself looking her right in the eye. 'Oh merlin!' He thought, 'Why did he let himself get distracted instead looking right at her!' He started to feel himself panic.

"And if you are only asking because you feel you 'ave to…" she continued letting her voice trail away at the end. If possible Harry paled further. Fleur must have been able to sense how he was feeling because she suddenly burst out laughing. He probably would have been warmed by hearing her laugh in front of him for the first time if he hadn't been so confused and worried.

"I am only joking 'arry! Of course I vill go viz you!" She said with a big smile.

The knot in his stomach released leave Harry feeling like he was on a cloud. He nearly floated back over to the Gryffindor table. He gave Hermione a quick hug from behind making her squeak in surprise. Then just as quickly he had let go and was leaving the hall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Fleur rising to leave as well. Exiting the hall he finally spotted Ron coming down for dinner. Giving his friend a big smile and nod, he realized he fancied himself a stroll. Harry took the long way back to Gryffindor tower.

**.**

Even after his long walk Harry was still buzzing. He wasn't even close to tired yet but when he noticed it was almost curfew, he thought it might be best to return to the common room. Entering through the portrait hole he wondered why it was so quiet and it took him a moment to realize Ron was sitting in one of the big chairs looking pale as a sheet, surrounded by several people. He didn't seem to notice him when Harry approached. He spotted Ginny nearby and asked what happened.

"He asked Fleur Delacour to the ball," she snickered. _**Harry:**_ _0_ _ **Anxiety:**_ _1_

She grinned at Harry, obviously enjoying her brother's predicament, before continuing, "He didn't realize she already had a date." _**Harry:**_ _0_ _ **Anxiety:**_ _2_

Harry's palms started to sweat as he turned to Ron. Before he could say anything, Ron began to speak in a monotone voice, "I was getting really worked up about not having a date yet and I missed the beginning of dinner. When I was entering the great hall I passed you." Ron finally met Harry's eyes at this point. He continued on sounding more normal, the more he talked, "Fleur wasn't far behind you and I passed her just inside the hall. She was grinning, I'd never seen her show that much emotion before so I think she was having trouble controlling her Veela magic stuff–"

"Honestly Ronald! It's called the Allure! Didn't you listen to anything I said at the Quidditch World Cup?" Hermione scoffed.

Ron shot her an annoyed look before continuing, "Whatever… the Allure! Anyway, I was just walking by and suddenly before I knew what I was doing I was asking if she wanted to go with me." Ron's face was beet red by the time he admitted this.

"More like shouted it in front of the whole school," added Ginny still grinning.

"And?" Harry asked wondering how much he knew. He saw Hermione shoot a worried glance probably wondering the same thing.

"And I bloody well ran out of there as fast as I could didn't I!" Ron answered indignantly before asking in a calmer voice, "Wonder who she is going with though?"

"Well… err… me," Harry admitted realizing there was no point in lying.

Ron stared at Harry for a long moment before grinning and saying, "Good on you, mate!"

"Really?" Harry asked unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. He was just relieved that Ron seemed to be ok with it. He didn't want a repeat of the beginning of the year. He thought he noticed Ginny look almost disappointed that Ron wasn't more upset and that she wasn't able to tease him more.

"Yeah, I know it may sound strange after earlier this year but I'm happy for you! I didn't really like her, I just seem to be so damn susceptible to her power. I've been trying to get over it all year!" He said sincerely.

"Thanks man. I'm sorry I doubted you. Don't worry, we'll find you someone." Harry replied happily.

Suddenly Ron's eyes seemed to focus on Hermione, "Oy, Hermione. You're a girl!"

Harry noticed Hermione's incredulous look before her eyes narrowed at his phrasing and insinuation. Not wanting to be in the middle of this confrontation, Harry snuck up to his dorm before the shouting could begin. As he lay in bed, he couldn't help but feel happy with how well things were turning out.

**.**

Christmas morning Harry was woken early by Ron exclaiming over and over about presents. In the past years he had grown to love the Holiday after experiencing it at Hogwarts, which was very different than what had experienced while living with the Dursley's full time. Yet this year, excited as he was, his thoughts kept straying to what was to come that night. Harry's excitement over Fleur's acceptance lasted through most of the weeks leading up to the holidays until just a few days earlier when he had realized something. He didn't know how to dance. Harry ran off to find Hermione in a panic and hurriedly explained his problem. With a roll of her eyes she took him to an empty classroom to show him the basics. Two hours later Harry knew the steps he needed to get him by, yet his ability to practically apply them was another question entirely. He was happy though, at least he wouldn't make a complete fool of himself standing in the middle of the floor with a blank expression.

Harry was shaken out of his reverie by the arrival of Hermione to exchange gifts with him and Ron. She chatted happily with the two of them for a few minutes before excusing herself to go get ready for the evening. This sent Harry's thoughts spinning back the Ball or more importantly who he would be meeting there. This caused him to completely miss the dark look Ron shot at Hermione's retreating form.

"I don't know how it's going to take her all day to get ready," he said once the door was again closed. "It's not like she really has a date. She's just saying that."

Still trying to avoid the growing tension between his to best friends, Harry fled the room after muttering a hasty excuse about visiting Hedwig in the Owlery. The night Harry asked Fleur to the dance, Ron had entered the dormitory 20 minutes after him and climbed into bed without saying a word. Ron hadn't mentioned that night again but from what he had heard from Ginny and the others, the argument had not been pretty and only ended with Hermione leaving the Common Room in tears. After asking around on Ron's behalf, Harry finally secured Ron a date with Padma Patil, a fourth year Ravenclaw, with Parvati Patil, her twin and a fellow Gryffindor's, help. The dance hadn't even started yet and Harry already felt bad about setting this up, especially with Ron's surly attitude around both Hermione and the ball.

After spending the day wandering around the halls of Hogwarts, Harry returned to his dorm to get ready, hoping Ron was in a better mood. To his immense enjoyment he entered the room to see Ron scowling angrily. At least the source of his friend's displeasure was easily discernable when Harry noticed the frilly dress robes laying on Ron's bed. Harry hastily put on his black and white dress robes that he had newly bought to resemble a muggle tuxedo. This only served to deepen Ron's scowl.

He left before Ron had even begun to put his on, explaining that the champions had to be down early, not that Harry knew if that was true or not. Reaching the Entrance Hall, Harry only saw three other people: Cedric Diggory, his date as well as Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, and Viktor Krum. He joined them murmuring his hellos before waiting in an awkward silence broken only by a few more arrivals.

"You clean up nice 'arry." Harry spun around to face the voice coming from behind him. He wondered how she always ended up behind him. Hoping for something witty to say, Harry only opened and closed his mouth several times as he drank in the sight before him. Fleur stood there in robes of silver satin that hugged her curves delightfully, which made Harry blush just thinking about it, her hair was pulled back running straight down her back and her skin seemed to be almost glowing.

"You," he began his voice coming out several octaves too high before trying again sounding more normal only stumbling slightly, "You look very ni… err… beautiful."

"Zank you 'arry. You look very 'andsome as vell zough I see you couldn't get your 'air to lay down," she complimented him while running her through his hair once. Harry couldn't help but physically shiver with pleasure at her touch. She smiled slightly at his reaction before adding, "but it does 'ave a certain appeal, non?"

When all this was taking place, the Entrance Hall had begun to fill and Professor McGonagall now stood in front of the great doors.

"Zat is one of your friends?" Fleur asked motioning towards the top of the stairs.

"Yeah. That's Hermione," he answered after a moment. Harry almost didn't recognize her as she descended the stairs towards them. Harry had never thought of Hermione as ugly but she had never really stood out in that way in his mind either. She had never seemed overly concerned by looks throughout the years but it was obvious that she had indeed spent the whole day getting ready. He thought she looked stunning, second only to the woman beside him of course. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she smiled brightly and waved to Harry and Fleur before walking over and greeting none other than Viktor Krum. Harry had noticed Ron enter several moments earlier and out of the corner of his eye he now saw him opening gaping at the couple in front of him.

Luckily for all of them, Professor McGonagall chose that moment to open the doors and everyone began to file in. To his immense relief, dinner was to be served before any dancing had to be attempted. The champions were to sit at the head table with the professors and ministry representatives. They chose a spot at the end of the table just down from Dumbledore and unluckily beside Percy Weasley. Harry tried to get away with a quick greeting but was quickly roped into listening to him prattle on about why he was there, something to do with Cauldron Thickness and of course his own chances of promotion. After a few minutes Fleur made a disgruntled sound and placed her hand on his effectively shutting down any attention he had been able to force onto Percy's words.

"Why don't we allow the young couple some time to talk themselves, hmm Percy?" Dumbledore interjected with a raised eyebrow. Fleur sent him a thankful look.

"Oh… uhh… of course Headmaster," Percy responded blushing slightly.

"Sorry about that," Harry muttered apologetically.

"Zat's ok 'arry, I 'ave you all to myself now," she said giving a sly smile.

Harry was sure that his gulp was audible. Before he had a chance to ponder the meaning behind her words, Dumbledore commanded attention to the front of the room by clinking his spoon to the outside of his goblet. Then demonstrating how one was to order the food they wanted by reading aloud from a menu in front of them, Dumbledore sat back down and conversations recommenced.

Dinner passed fairly easily. The food was excellent and as promised appeared on their plates as soon as they spoke its name. Harry and Fleur chatted for most of the time sticking to mostly mundane topics like Quidditch and school. Fleur talked incessantly once Harry asked her about living in France yet unlike Percy, he didn't mind listening to her. Several times snatches of Dumbledore's conversations peeked their interest such as one story about a magical room he had found full of hundreds of chamber pots when he was on the way to the loo. Another time he had been making general comments about the tournament but Harry was sure it was directed at him.

"I do believe the tournament is succeeding in bringing our schools together," Dumbledore said to Madame Maxine while looking with twinkling eyes at both Viktor and Hermione then Harry and Fleur. The French Headmistress only huffed in response while shooting a disgruntled glare in Harry's direction.

Before long the desert was done as well, disappearing from the plates, and Harry knew the moment he feared was coming. Standing from the table, he held out his arm for Fleur and they joined the other champions heading for the center of the room. When they reached their destination, Harry turned towards Fleur, going through a mental checklist, he placed one hand on his waist and then with his other took hers. Only then did look up and meet her eyes. Everything else stopped. Her eyes had softened, like he had only seen momentarily on one other occasion. He felt that he could get lost in their depths like the deep pools of water they resembled. Harry heard the music begin and went through the motions that he had learned only days before without a second thought. This really wasn't as bad as he thought. He was happy to see that Fleur looked pleasantly surprised by his abilities. Harry couldn't help but wonder what he had been so scared of. There were definite benefits to this whole dancing business. One of which being the close proximity that they were standing, though Harry tried not to focus on that lest he get too, let's just say, worked up.

He had come into the evening hoping to make it through one dance but before he knew it, it had been over half an hour. It was actually Fleur who tired first, looking slightly hot and flustered. Harry obliged her and they both left the dance floor to seek a beverage. It was then that they noticed what looked like another budding argument between Ron and Hermione.

"Would you care to take a walk Mademoiselle Delacour?" Harry asked with an exaggerated bow, holding out his hand with a small smile. Taking it, he led her out the doors.

"'Ow long 'ave zey liked each other?" Fleur asked once they were outside.

"You noticed?"

"'Oo didn't?"

Harry gave a small chuckle before answering, "I think it's always been there but things have become more… intense this year."

They continued walking along the path in the rose garden for several minutes in companionable silence. Fleur was the first one to break it, "Did you realize vhat exactly is implied by asking your date to go for a valk in ze garden 'arry?" When Harry gave her an uncomprehending look she motioned into darkness beside the path. It took Harry a moment for eyes to adjust and realize what he was seeing. It was one of the couples they'd seen leave the Ball earlier and now they were snogging senselessly in the rose bush. Harry turned back to Fleur in wide eyed comprehension, blushing several different shades of red. Fleur laughed at his expression before grabbing his arm again and pulling over to a stone bench.

"Fleur… I… I didn't mean," he stammered once they sat down.

"Relax 'arry. I am only teasing you," she said causing him to visibly relax before adding, "Unless…" She let it hang in the air for moment, only laughing when he gulped audibly again.

"So tell me more about your life growing up in France," Harry asked after another moment of silence.

"Vell, my fazzer is a politician in the French Ministry of Magic so growing up I always got to attend lots of formal parties similar to tonight. I always loved zat and so does my younger seester. Zings got more difficult ven I came into my Veela 'eritage. People are always staring and only seem to vant one thing from me." When Harry nodded that he understood she continued, "You 'ave to understand 'arry for a Veela ze change is almost instantaneous. I voke up one morning a girl in an almost adult body. I didn't understand vy people treated me differently all of a sudden. It vas very confusing. Zat vas ven I began crafting my public persona zat I am sure you noticed. I try to dissuade as many people as possible from approaching me so zat it is not overwhelming. Making friends vas difficult."

Harry tentatively reached out and took her hand comfortably. She smiled her thanks before asking, "Vhat about you? "Ow vas your childhood 'arry?"

Harry stiffened before answered in a strained voice, "I grew up with my Aunt and Uncle. They were muggles… let's just say that they were not the nicest people."

"I do not understand? Zey are family, non? You indirectly saved ze entire visarding vorld. Vere zey not 'appy to 'ave you?" She asked.

Harry hesitated a moment unsure on what to say before realizing that they had more in common then he thought and that she had already trusted him by revealing so much to him. Taking the plunge, he told her everything. Even things he never spoken of before, even to Ron and Hermione. He told her about his relatives opinion on magic, how they had always spoken to him, the chores they had made him do, the cupboard under the stairs, his cases of incidental magic and even how much he hated being famous in the wizarding world. By the time he was done, Fleur had tears in her eyes and quickly enveloped him in a hug. Nothing had ever felt better.

"You really didn't enter your name did you?" She asked in a low voice.

"No I didn't." She nodded her acceptance without challenge. They sat there for a few more minutes, talking about less emotionally charged topics before rising again and entering the castle.

Once inside, they began dancing again for the last few songs but too soon the clock chimed the end of the ball. Harry's breath hitched as Fleur leaned in and gave a kiss on the cheek. The feeling lingering for long after.

"'appy Christmas 'arry. I 'ad a vonderful time," she murmured before giving him one last smile and sauntering off. Harry stood there frozen for several minutes thinking of everything that had occurred in the last few hours before beginning the walk to Gryffindor Tower. On his was he realized that this was one night he would not forget anytime soon.

 **A/N:** _Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will cover a bunch of completely non-canon events. After that we have the second task and then even more non-canon. I wanted to thank everyone who is reading this story and especially everyone writing reviews leaving your encouragement and advice. I really appreciate it. This story now has more followers in the last four days than my other one has gotten in 3 months. So THANK YOU! Again please leave a review after reading and let me know what you think._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** _Sorry for the delay in posting… real life caught up with me for a bit and have been a little busy. This is my first completely AU chapter with all of my own original events. I hope you all enjoy. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. Again, I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter._

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his enormous desk feeling content. Though he was still worried about how Harry's name had ended up in the Goblet of Fire, he couldn't help but feel proud of him. Harry had shown that he was more than capable of competing against the other seventh year students on an almost equal footing. He knew that his student's abilities would only grow more over the years to come. Dumbledore was also happy that the tournament seemed to be meeting its primary goal, if the budding relationship between Harry and the French Champion were any indication. Harry would need all the love he could get to survive the coming years.

His thoughts on the subject were quickly interrupted by a tapping on his window. He opened the window and sighed as a newly familiar owl flew in and landed on his desk, holding out its leg. He quickly untied the attached letter and watched as it exited his office through the same window. Rita Skeeter had begun owling him almost daily since the beginning of the tournament. He had promptly begun ignoring the letters, thinking her one of the more vile people he'd had the displeasure of meeting in his long life.

For some reason today he had a bad feeling about her letter. If she had managed to get into Hogwarts unknowingly during the Yule Ball the night before, the results could be catastrophic. She had a habit of showing up on the grounds uninvited and it was beginning to concern him. At the Ball, several students had gotten in trouble for being in the possession of banned substances and he knew if she had been around while they were under the influence of said substances, Rita may have hit the jackpot of gossip around the castle. He opened the letter.

 _Albus,_

 _Last night I unearthed a wealth of knowledge concerning you and your protégé, Hogwarts esteemed youngest champion. I thought you might find it of interest and wanted to give you the first chance to make a comment before the article is printed in this evening's Daily Prophet. Stop by my office if you want to chat._

 _Rita Skeeter_

 _The Daily Prophet_

Clenching the letter in his hand before tossing it in the fire, he strode purposefully over to a perch on the far side of his office. It housed a swan-sized bird of red and gold. Whispering his intentions into his ear, the old man's familiar jumped onto his shoulder and they disappeared in a whirl of flames. They reappeared the same way they left, in front of a very startled witch with heavily curled blond hair, her heavily-jawed face gaping. Dumbledore smiled inwardly seeing that her rhinestone studded glasses were askew meaning she had jumped considerably at his arrival.

"Albus, take a seat," she said gesturing to a chair in front of her small desk with a sickly sweet smile after she had gotten over her initial shock.

"What do you have to show me? I don't take kindly to having my time wasted," he asked his eyes flashing dangerously while he remained standing. He chose to ignore her continued use of his first name, thinking that she may have bigger problems to deal with soon enough. She looked nervous for a moment at his expression before her smug look returned when she wordlessly handed him a long piece of parchment.

 _HOGWARTS HEADMASTER PLACES BOY-WHO-LIVED WITH ABUSIVE FAMILY_

 _By Rita Skeeter_

 _Most of the wizarding world has been under the impression that our savior, one Harry Potter, had grown up somewhere in a quiet wizarding family away from prying eyes yet new evidence has come to light showing this is not the case. Surprisingly, our esteemed Chief Warlock placed him with his only remaining family who happen to be muggles. You heard it here first folks, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's destroyer did not grow up in the magical world, or more importantly not even knowing it existed until he received his Hogwarts letter. The boy in question described them himself as "hateful people who were fearful of anything to do with magic."_

The article went on to explain the many abusive tendencies of the Dursley's including beatings, locking him a cupboard under the stairs, the chores they had made him do and how Harry had found out about his parents murder. Finally it began to draw to a close.

 _What would possess a man to place a child so important to the magical community in a family such as this? Should parents feel safe sending their children to a school run by Albus Dumbledore? At least now we can understand what could have caused the mental instability in young Mr. Potter, who so desperate for approval, tricked his way into entering the Tri-Wizard Tournament and so easily became enthralled by such a dark creature like Beauxbatons Champion and Veela, Fleur Delacour._

Dumbledore felt rage at reading these words unlike that he'd felt in many decades yet he was able to force his face into that of one of neutrality. He wasn't sure if this was all true but a lot of it matched up to snippets he had heard from others. He knew the Dursley's held magic in disdain but thought that he would at least be treated as part of the family even if he didn't learn anything about the wizarding world. Dumbledore knew that even if it all wasn't true, though he had a sick feeling it was, Harry would be emotionally destroyed by the article getting out. He began to formulate a plan.

"And your editor has already approved this for print?" He asked.

"You're the first to read it because I wanted to know your comment but I already know this will be splashed across the front page at the latest by tomorrow morning," she said her smile growing larger. Dumbledore sighed resignedly and observed her gravely over his half-moon spectacles. As if sensing his thoughts and simultaneously realizing her own mistake she paled. Dumbledore pulled out his wand preparing to stun and then obliviate her. To his surprise she suddenly transformed into a beetle attempting to fly out of the room. After a non-verbal summoning charm and forcing her out of her animagus state, Albus Dumbledore continued with his original plan.

He searched her office for several minutes eliminating any and all copies of the article before calling Fawkes to him once again and returning to Hogwarts. He quickly penned a letter to the Ministry of Magic to report an unregistered animagus before handing it to his trusty phoenix who again flashed out of existence. Dumbledore hated having to take matters into his own hands like that but he had to protect Harry. Dark days are coming and Harry was their only hope. He would look closer at the situation with the Dursleys.

**.**

Fleur woke up the morning after the Yule Ball with a smile on her face. She'd had a great time the night before and forgot how much fun those types of events could be when your date wasn't drooling, gawking or constantly attempting to get her out of her dress robes. She began to think about the way they had opened up to each other the night before and that where her good mood began to fade. Her family had understood many of the challenges she had faced in her life but last night was the first time she had spoken about it openly to someone. She still didn't know why she had done it. She had felt so compelled to explain herself to him and she had felt so safe telling him. Then apparently shocking them both he had opened up as well. There were so many similarities in the challenges and pain they had both faced in their lives yet his story was so much darker. At least she'd had her family supporting her the whole time, he seemed to have no one. Could she really love him enough to fill that void?

And that was where the panic began to set in. She couldn't figure out where the word love had come from in her thoughts. She still barely knew him. He did tell her all about his childhood but they had barely talked about his time at Hogwarts. She didn't even know if she liked him in that way let alone loved him. Sure his resistance to her allure initially peaked her interest and made him refreshing to be around but was that it? She could admit his unruly black and bright green eyes were attractive but that wasn't enough, was it? Did it mean anything that she enjoyed going over and flirting with him so much? She just enjoyed how she could make him blush so easily with her teasing, she thought it was cute. He always seemed so kind to everyone around him even when most of his school was wearing those disgusting buttons. It had blown her away that he was so caring after what he had revealed about his childhood the night before. She had never felt like this before.

Unknowing how she was supposed to act after everything they had shared the night before and not wanting to face these new feelings she was experiencing, Fleur did something that was probably not the best idea and would only make things worse. She avoided him. Not attending breakfast, Fleur first walked around the grounds trying to collect her thoughts before finally slipping into the castle. Still no closer to coming to terms with her jumbled thoughts, she began to explore the twisting labyrinth of halls that made up Hogwarts. It was during this time, near what she knew to be the end of breakfast, she heard the voice.

"Delacour!" She spun around to see it had come from a pale boy with blond hair and a smug expression who was walking towards her. "I wanted to offer you the opportunity to spend the day with me in Hogsmede next month."

"Zank you for ze offer but I am sure I vill be fine on my own," she said politely before turning away. She couldn't help but think, 'Here we go again.' Before she could begin to move away she felt a hand on her arm spinning her around again facing the boy who now had a scowl on his face. She instinctively knocked his hand off and took a step back. The halls began to fill with students heading to their next class.

"What do you mean no? What else are you good for? Don't you know who I am?" He said loudly his voice tinged with anger making several students look at them. Her wand was out in seconds but then she froze when she saw Harry round the corner. He saw her and started towards her. She still hadn't sorted out her feelings yet but all she did know was that she did not want him to see this. She knew growing up with muggles he didn't know all the propaganda used against Veelas, especially that by the British Ministry. No matter how farfetched she couldn't help but get scared at the thought that he would find out and believe it all. That he would reject her.

"I can't believe they let creatures, such as yourself, even compete in tournament. You need to learn your place. How much did Potter have to pay your for last night anyway?" He asked with a sneer just as Harry entered hearing range. His wand was out in flash.

"Leave her alone Malfoy!" He said. She could see the anger burning in his emerald eyes. This was getting out of hand. She needed a way to escape. She didn't want to talk to him yet or for him to hear what this Malfoy was saying. Her anger at herself only grew for feeling so helpless, so she lashed out at the person who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I don't need you to protect me 'arry!" Fleur shouted at a shocked looking Harry before turning and fleeing down the hall.

**.**

Harry stood there shocked watching Fleur's retreating form down the hallway. He had come over to help when he had seen what was going on expecting that Malfoy might fight back but not Fleur. Standing there trying to puzzle out what just happened, his anger had momentarily disappeared. Malfoy watched him a bemused expression at his obvious shock.

"So Potter, I am truly curious. How much did you have to pay her for last night?" Harry then did the only thing that was left to do. He punched Malfoy in the face.

**.**

The next few weeks passed by at a crawl. Harry and Fleur didn't speak. Though he was sure that whatever chance they'd had at something were now gone he couldn't stop thinking about her. He passed her in the hall every once in a while, both awkwardly avoiding eye contact. The morning after the Ball, Harry had woken feeling rested and happy for the first time in a long time. At first he wasn't sure how act around her the next day but he knew their relationship had changed. He hadn't seen her at breakfast and then he had found her in that hallway with Malfoy and learned that their relationship had changed, just not for the better.

He still didn't know why he had told her everything that he did, and it made slightly nervous, but even without them speaking he trusted her to keep it to herself. He couldn't shake the voice in the back of his head telling him that he had scared her away by telling her everything. That she thought of him as broken now and didn't want to be his friend, let alone anything else. As the weeks drew on he found his thoughts getting progressively darker, and in turn his moods increasingly surly. Even the few friends that had still been talking to him, soon began to avoid him as well, not wanting to be the focus of one of his explosions.

It was after one of such explosions at Hermione, who had been nagging him about the second task, that he found himself walking the halls trying to cool off. And it was during this walk that a hand shot out, grabbing him and forcibly dragging him into an unused classroom. Stumbling into the room he looked up meeting Fleur's blue eyes. She looked as tired and worn out as he felt. This made him wonder if this situation was straining on her as much as it was on him.

"'arry, I need to apologize again. I should not 'ave yelled at you all zose veeks ago. I know you vere just trying to 'elp," she said looking sad.

"Then why did you say it?" He asked softly feeling the knot in his chest begin to loosen slightly.

"I…" she paused for a moment. "I told you before vhat it was like growing up as a Veela but vhen you told me about growing up in ze muggle vorld, I realized you don't know what your Ministry of Magic says about my kind. I know it was stupid but I vas worried if you found out you might believe it like so many others 'ave. And zen zat Malfoy vas saying it all in front of you."

"I heard some of the stuff people were saying right after the ball, and I want you to know I never believed it," Harry said and she gave a small grateful smile.

"'ave you figured out ze clue yet?" She asked.

Surprising Harry at the change of subject while simultaneous bringing the rest of his fears to the front of his mind, he responded defensively, "I… err… no… yes… maybe..."

Fleur seemed amused by his response shooting him a grin, giving him the warm feeling in his belly that he hadn't realized he had been missing so much, "Try opening ze egg under vater."

"Why are you telling me this," Fleur blushed slightly, looking ashamed.

"Madame Maxine told me vhat to do… it vas not fair. Now ve are on equal footing."

Harry nodded his thanks to her. She took a step toward him, looking indecisive for a second, before placing a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Zank you for giving me a chance to explain 'arry." She took a step back before sticking out her hand, "Friends?"

"Friends," he responded yet when she left the room he couldn't stop his frown from returning. His stomach sank again at that one word. _Friends._

 **A/N:** _I hope you guys enjoyed that. I had a lot of fun writing Dumbledore and I hope you guys don't feel that he was too OOC. I've read a bunch of stories where they bash Dumbledore and make him really devious / smart. I wanted to show that he can be intimidating and do all of that but without bashing his character because I have always believed that he does care for Harry. Next chapter will cover the second task and then after that another completely AU chapter. Please leave a review and let me know how I am doing. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to that so far._


	6. Chapter 6

After their discussion, Harry began spending more time with Fleur. They would meet up sometimes in between his classes, just chatting and getting to know each other as friends. Though things were much better than before, Harry still noticed an awkward tension between them, like they weren't quite sure how to act around one another. He wasn't sure what to make of it but he caught her stealing glances at him just as often as she caught him doing the same. This only served to get his hopes up, which he quickly squashed not wanting to be disappointed again. _She's just a friend, she's just a friend, she's just friend…_ had become a mantra for Harry but he wasn't sure that he was fooling anybody, let alone himself.

A few days after said talk, Harry was thinking about Fleur's advice and trying to determine the best way to give it a try. Deep in thought he didn't notice anyone approaching him until they began to speak.

"Hey Harry," Harry jumped at the sound of his voice quickly looking up in surprise to see Cedric. "I never got a chance to thank you for your tip on the dragons. It probably saved my life out there."

"It's no big deal. It was only fair, everyone else already knew," he said trying to brush it off. Harry still wasn't sure how to act around Cedric. He always expected Cedric to hate him like the rest of the school for stealing the attention from him but every conversation they'd had so far had been pleasant.

"Well I owe you so I just wanted to let you know that the next time you go to take a bath, bring the egg with you and-" Cedric began before being cut off by Harry's outburst.

"I already know. Fleur told me."Cedric raised an eyebrow at him questioningly with a small grin. Realizing what he had implied with that statement he hurriedly continued on, "I just haven't figured out how to test it yet."

"Like I was going to say, use the prefects bathroom. The password is pinefresh."

"Thanks Cedric."

"I'm just glad I could help a little. I still owe you though."

"What? No… you don't owe," Harry began but Cedric waved away his retort as he walked away. He started planning to test the egg out that night, after curfew, when noone else was around. He knew he was running out of time and couldn't put it off any longer.

**.**

"You mean you only just figure this out now?" Asked Hermione, her voice rising several octaves in her frustration. "You told me you figured out the clue weeks ago!"

"Well… I… erm…" Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I figured it out now. That's all that matters."

She shot Harry a annoyed look, "Can you repeat it again."

"Come seek us where our voices sound, We cannot sing above the ground, And while you're searching ponder this; We've taken what you'll sorely miss, An hour long you'll have to look, And to recover what we took, But past an hour, the prospect's black, Too late, it's gone, it won't come back." He said flatly. "Like that helps me."

"Oh but it does Harry! Don't you see? I can't believe I didn't see it before but the voices were obviously merpeople and where are there merpeople around here?" She sighed when he just shook his head. "Honestly? Am I the only the who's ever read Hogwarts: A History?"

"Yes!" Piped up Ron who was also listening in. She completely ignored him.

"There is a tribe of merpeople who live in the black lake. You obviously need to go in for an hour and retrieve something that they have taken from you. Now just to figure out how you will breath underwater for an hour."

"You could always just use Gillyweed," said a voice making them all jump. Harry turned to see Neville, also sitting by the fire, working on homework. He hadn't even noticed him. Neville turned beat red with all their eyes on him. Questioning him further he learned how by eating this plant, the user grows gills and webbed feet perfect for navigating underwater. Neville helped them figure out how much was required for the effects to last an hour and Harry sent off an owl order to diagon alley. He tried to hold in his chuckles when he noted that Hermione seemed a little put out that she hadn't been the one to come up the solution.

**.**

When Harry awoke the morning of the second task, he felt much more collected than the last time around. He had his Gillyweed in his pocket and felt that this task would be much safer than facing a dragon. That was until he noticed that Ron never returned to the dormitory the night before. He quickly headed down to the common room to wait for Hermione, at least she might know where Ron is. The common room had completely emptied out, his fellow Gryffindors down at breakfast, and Hermione still hadn't come down. Sighing in defeat, Harry made his way down to the great hall as well.

After forcing himself to eat something, Harry couldn't resist glancing over towards the Ravenclaw table to see how his fellow champion was faring. After figuring out the clue earlier that month, Harry had told Fleur as much. She told him that she was glad but refused to speak to him about the task any further. When he saw her, he knew something was up. She was glancing around the hall every few seconds as if looking for something. He decided to go over and see what was going on. Thats what friends do, right? _Friends…_

"Are you ok?" He murmured just loud enough for her to hear, sitting down beside her. She spun to face him and Harry noticed immediately, when he saw her eyes, how worried she was.

"'arry! My leetle sister, Gabrielle, is visiting for ze second task but she didn't return the ze carriage last night. Madame Maxine keeps brushing me off and telling me not to worry," she said speaking so quickly that he had a hard time keeping up.

"Ron and Hermione are missing as well," he had a sinking feeling that it was all related to today's events.

Fleur must have had the same thought because her face began to redden with anger and several people unconsciously shifted away from her. "Zey better not 'ave put 'er in any danger!"

"I am sure that they are safe," he said trying to reassure her even though he didn't completely believe it himself.

They soon got up to leave the hall and were joined by the other two champions heading towards the lake. Cedric raised his eyebrow at Harry when he saw Fleur and him initially walking together. Harry just glowered in return. They took a small boat to the middle of the lake where huge platforms had been erected with raised seating for the onlookers.

After each taking turns changing into provided bathing suits in a small tent, Bagman confirmed Harry and Fleur's worst fears, "You all should have figured out the clue by now. Someone important has been taken from all of you and placed at the bottom of the lake. Retrieve them within the time limit to score points."

Harry was glad he wasn't Bagman at that moment with the look Fleur was shooting him after that announcement. Harry was trying very very hard not to stare at Fleur in her bathing suit. He noticed Cedric and Viktor in a similar predicament but seemed to having varying success. For some reason he found this very annoying.

The rest of the students began arriving shortly afterward quickly filling up the stands. When everyone was seated, Bagman gave a similar speech explaining the task to everyone else. When the countdown began, Harry popped Gillyweed in his mouth. It didn't have much taste bu a very rubbery and chewy texture. He finally got it down but nothing seemed to happen. He started to panic wondering if it didn't work but then he started feeling a burning on the side of his neck and the next thing he knew was that he was falling into the water after the cannon blast. He started to thrash around at first but, realizing that he could breath, calmed him down. He noticed his hands and feet had become webbed as well, allowing him to slip through the water easily. It was so effortless that he let out a small laugh that came out as a torrent of bubbles.

He began swimming deeper into the lake passing by fish and other marine life. So far he hadn't come across anything dangerous and he thought that the hardest part might be locating what he was looking for. Of course, just when he thought that, he heard a muffled sound travelling through the water. Looking around he noticed something silver thrashing around in the water. Fleur! Abandoning his search, Harry sped off in her direction. As he got closer, he noticed that she seemed to be surrounded by at least 20 grindylows. She was attempting to stun them but there was too many of them and they were too close to her. As several latched onto her leg, she began kicking towards the surface to escape. Harry didn't dare attempt to help from afar incase he hit Fleur so he just pushed himself harder to catch up. As she approached the surface she began slowing down and seemed to be losing consciousness. He saw the bubble that she had conjured around her head starting flicker. Realizing that he no time left to wait, he shot several stunning spells knocking the grindylows off one by one. Just as she was completely free of them, he reached her and her charm gave out. Luckily it only took a couple seconds to break the surface. He brought the still unconscious Fleur over to the platform, trying to ignore how her body was pressed up against him, and handed her off to a concerned looking Madame Pomfrey before diving back under the water.

He knew that he had to hurry as he had lost a lot of time helping Fleur. This time he headed straight down knowing that he had to get to the bottom no matter where they were situated. As he neared the bottom, he began to hear a faint singing that he recognized from the egg. Feeling emboldened, Harry put on a burst of speed heading towards the sound. As the singing got louder and louder, he was met by a strange sight. It appeared as if a village was rising up out of the murky depths. Reaching the edge, he saw that merpeople lined the edges of a path to the centre of the village. What he saw next made his blood run cold. He saw Ron and a girl, he assumed to be Fleur's sister, tied to stakes. They both looked pale as death and didn't appear to be breathing. He tried to reassure himself that they were in some kind of stasis. As he began tugging the bonds loose around Ron, he tried to think about what to do with the young Veela. Fleur wouldn't be coming to get her and he wasn't sure he had time to get both. He was sure that Dumbledore wouldn't let anyone get hurt but couldn't shake the one like from the poem _too late, it's gone, it won't come back._

It wasn't even a choice for Harry anymore. He used his wand to slice open the bonds holding Gabrielle. He saw the merpeople start towards him weapons raised. He pushed the two captives upwards training his wand on anything came close to him. They began to slowly back up as he kicked up after the raising bodies. When he was far enough away that he didn't think they would follow, he grabbed the two of them and kicked upwards with all his might. The water began to lighten around him when he felt the familiar burning in his throat and extremities as he began to slow down. He was now silently cursing himself for only buying enough Gillyweed for the one hour. He should have gotten a little extra for a situation just like this. The surface of the water became visible moment later but he knew he wouldn't make it. Using his last breath he cast the levitating charm on on the two people above him, hoping they would make the surface. Everything went black before he could find out.

**.**

Fleur was furious when she woke up. Firstly at herself for not noticing the gathering grindylows until it was too late and secondly at Madame Maxine for physically restraining her from returning to the lake, she was seriously considering hexing her headmistress, and lastly at this tournament for placing her sister in danger! She had signed up for this but not her sister. Everyone was assuring her that her sister would be fine but it didn't calm her at all. Both Cedric and Viktor had returned recently but Harry was still nowhere to be seen. They had told her that he had saved her from the attack and brought her back to the surface.

A large timer soon sounded indicating that the hour was up yet there was still no signs of movement in the lake. Dumbledore was pacing back and forth behind her doing nothing to sooth her nerves. Suddenly she heard a shout from the crowd as two people broke the surface and began swimming over. She noticed the red hair or Harry's friend Ron and the silver hair silver hair that matched her own from her younger sister but still no Harry.

She only gave it a split second's consideration, jumping into the lake before anyone could stop her, recasting the bubble-head charm at the same time. She swam as fast as she could towards the point where the two hostages had surfaced. She finally spotted Harry, unmoving and slowly sinking downwards. Fear unlike any other she'd ever experienced, gripped her chest. She sped over to his location and quickly cast a bubble-head charm on his as well. She returned the way she came pulling him along. As soon as she reached the surface hands reached down pulling them both up.

She tried to stay close to Harry but the Hogwarts Matron soon shoved her back as she leaned over him quickly to use first aid charms. Gabrielle ran over to her and she pulled her into a huge hug. She felt like she could barely breath as Harry was tirelessly worked on. She felt relief like no other when his eyes flew open and suddenly sat up coughing and sputtering. He was alive!

**.**

Harry awoke to a raw throat, massive headache… of and spitting up copious amount of lovely water from the black lake. When that stopped and his breathing had returned mostly to normal he took a look around. He was happy to see Fleur near her sister and noticed a worried looking Hermione heading his way. His attention was wrenched away though when he saw Fleur had also begun marching his way. She reached him first and before he knew what was happening she was kissing him. Everything else fell away, the crowd, his surprised looking friend and even all his aches and pains. He felt like he floating on a cloud. All he could focus on was the feeling of her soft lips moving against his. Before he knew it she was pulling away.

"You could 'ave died!" She almost screeched smacking him lightly to his shock. "But you also saved my life!" She pulled him in for another kiss.

"You almost gave your life for my sister!" She admonished after pulling away again. She looked like she was deciding on whether to smack him again or kiss him. Making the decision for her, he pulled her close. He was a little befuddled by her mood swings in the last two minutes but he was sure if he could keep on getting kisses like this, he would be just fine.

 **A/N:** _I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I tried to change up the task a little bit but there isn't much to work with. I hope the 'big' scene at the end was good enough. I am not entirely sure how happy I am with it but I think it's decent. Hope to be updating both this and my new story equally a few times a week. I wanted to thank everyone for their support. I can't believe I have already broken 100 favorites and 200 follows! Please leave me a review and let me know how I am doing._


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